Devils Crush Penguins 5-0!
The New Jersey Devils Shutout the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-0,
in Pittsburgh, on Saturday, May 19, 2001. The Devils now lead the
series 3-1 and can advance the the Stanley Cup Finals with a win on
Tuesday.
Patrick Elias scored the only goal of the first period
to give the Devils a 1-0 lead. The goal was a deflection
of a nice Scott Niedermayer shot. Colin White also got an assist
on the goal which came at 18:11.
The Devils led 1-0 and outshot the Penguins 13-4 after
one period.Brian Rafalski scored at 7:58 in the second period with
assists from Patrick Elias and Sean O'Donnell. Petr Sykora
scored at 15:34 with a nice wrist shot to give the Devils a 3-0
lead.
After two periods, the Devils led 3-0. The Penguins were
outshot by the Devils 8-12 in the second period, and 25-12 in the game
so far.
Jason Arnott was credited with a goal 4:17 into the third
period on a centering pass which was knocked past Johan Hedberg by
Pittsburgh Penguins center, Jan Hrdina. Brian Rafalski got his
second goal of the game with a nice slap shot on the power-play at
13:14. Petr Sykora and Bobby Holik got assists on the goal.
The Penguins outshot the Devils 9-5 in the third period,
but in the game, the Devils outshot the Penguins 30-21.
The final score of the game was 5-0.Martin Brodeur got his 12th career playoff shutout - which
ties him with Terry Sawchuk and Curtis Joseph for fifth place on the
NHL's all-time list. This is the second time in this years playoffs
that Marty has gotten back to back shutouts. This also marks the
first time in the 34 year history (including the regular season) of the
Penguins that they have been shutout in consecutive home games.
The Devils are now 6-2 on the road in these playoffs,
outscoring their opponents 27-11 in those games.Brian Rafalski got more points in this game (3 - one assist
and two goals) than Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr have had in the past
four games.
Darius Kasparaitus and Robert Lang were back in the lineup
for the Penguins. Jim McKenzie, Bob Corkum, and Ken Sutton sat
out for the Devils.
The New Jersey Devils are the only team to ever have
rallied back from a 3-1 deficit in a conference final. They did
this last year against the Philadelphia Flyers.Brian Rafalski set a new team record for goals scored by a
defenseman in the playoffs - he got his sixth and seventh in tonights
game. Patrick Elias also set a new team record - for points
scored in consecutive games, he now has points in each of the last nine
games.